The parent company of Queen's Medical Center announced today it has finalized its purchase of the former Hawaii Medical Center West campus in Ewa.

Queen's Health Systems, which acquired the defunct hospital from St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii, plans to reopen the facility in early 2014 after major renovations. The new campus will be called Queen’s Medical Center – West Oahu.

Hawaii Medical Center-West closed a year ago, leaving residents of West Oahu with Pali Momi Medical Center in Aiea as the closest acute-care hospital. Without the HMC-West emergency room, ambulances have been forced to drive farther, and the island's remaining emergency rooms have been overloaded with patients.

“Transferring the ownership of the West Oahu hospital assets to Queen’s is an important milestone for St. Francis,” Jerry Correa, St. Francis president and chief executive officer, said in a press release. “We recognize the critical need to reopen hospital and emergency services in West Oahu.”

The land and hospital acquisition, as well as planned improvements, will exceed $70 million.

Queen's plans to expand and improve emergency, surgical and imaging services. Further terms of the agreement are confidential.

Queen's had said earlier it planned to hire approximately 400 employees to resume emergency room and hospital operations.

“The Queen’s Medical Center is looking forward to working together with the West Oahu community to open the campus as The Queen’s Medical Center – West Oahu to provide needed healthcare services,” Art Ushijima, Queen's president, said in a press release.